Ideally this should be a post listing my nominations for every single category on the Hugo ballot, but I have been just straight-up absolutely awful keeping track of the short fiction I’ve read this year. My ‘best of’ list is a clusterfuck and I feel like a horrible human being, like ‘main-protagonist-of-a-Gillian-Flynn-novel’ bad, and I would be embarrassed to post my half-assed list just to show how lax I’ve been with keeping track of things (I am running into a similar problem re: taxes).

I did however, make a concentrated effort to read more novels released this year so I’d be able to make some informed nominations in that category (great. The most popular, widely nominated category. Good job, Shannon).

Anyway, I am still working on my Hugo ballot, but I wanted to post something before the deadline.

Shannon’s Hugo Novel Nominations:

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

Last year, after a lot of politicking that I won’t get into, The Three Body Problem managed to get onto the Hugo ballot and went on to win. I actually think the sequel is even better. It is my foremost pick for best novel.

House of Shattered Wings by Alliette de Boddard

A really beautiful fantasy novel set in a Paris destroyed by war and populated by angels.

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

I liked Ancillary Justice but was meh on Ancillary Mercy (how’s that for in depth criticism?) but I felt like Mercy was a return to form and I would be happy to see it win the Hugo.

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

I went back and forth on nominating this: it’s a fun steampunk western, but does it deserve to be on the ballot? But then I figured that the fact that I could still remember how much I enjoyed it months later showed how well-written it was.

So that’s my novel list. Remember, ballots are due midnight Thursday, March 31, pacific standard time.